Opus presents…

Against his mother’s wishes, Lemminkäinen travels to the icy north in search of a bride. There, impossible tasks await him: he must hunt the Devil’s elk, ride the Devil’s horse, and shoot a swan on Death’s river. But unseen dangers lie in wait for him along the way...

Inspired by Opera North’s upcoming production of Swanhunter, the Opus group presents this retelling of a traditional tale from the Finnish folk epic The Kalevala. This performance uses music, movement, poetry and visual art to tell the story of love, bravery, adventure and magic in a unique and exciting way.

Sparing with his solo releases, electronic guitarist Christian Fennesz has constantly extended his avenues of expression through collaborations with other artists including Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Mike Patton, and by creating music for film.

'It feels like a ride, like the music transports you bodily from one place to the next'Pitchfork

In this rare UK performance, Fennesz joins forces with visual artist Lillevan. This special project, performed for the first time in the UK, takes inspiration from Bohemian composer Gustav Mahler, who music is transformed by Fennesz’s characteristic clouds of distortion, drones and infinitely slowly evolving melody.

Please note the time indicated is the actual start of the performance. Doors to the event will open approximately 15 minutes before.

And Mahan Esfahani

Natalie Clein is described by The Times as a ‘mesmerising’ cellist who ‘plays everything with passion’. Known for her soulful and profound approach to music making, she returns with a programme dominated by J.S Bach, in honour of his 330th birthday. The evening features two of Bach’s Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord including G Major BWV1027 and G Minor BWV 1029, as well as pieces by two of Bach's sons, Vivaldi, Ligeti and Kurtág.

‘…breathtakingly beautiful’ BBC Radio 3

Clein is accompanied by Iranian harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani whose ‘passionate engagement with the music’ (The Telegraph) is fast making him a reputation as a leading exponent of his instrument.

Please note the time indicated is the actual start of the performance. Doors to the event will open approximately 15 minutes before.

Places of Worship tour

Norwegian jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen’s exploration of the instrument’s possibilities shows no limits. In this special UK performance, he brings the improvising spirit of his album Places of Worship to life, alongside long-term collaborator Jan Bang and visual artist Anastasia Isachsen.

His improvising style is rooted both in the glorious geography of his native natural habitats and his hybrid, cosmopolitan environments of the 21st century. On Places of Worship he inhabits the space between these two worlds in a series of pieces taking inspiration from religious buildings and ruins.

Simply buy an equivalent number of tickets for two or more shows displaying the Save symbol and you will receive 20% off your tickets. Currently not available online. To book please call 0844 848 2727, Monday – Saturday from 10am – 6pm.

Please note the time indicated is the actual start of the performance. Doors to the event will open approximately 15 minutes before.

Ravi Coltrane has followed in his father’s footsteps to become one of the finest saxophonists of his generation. In a career spanning two decades, the Grammy-nominated performer has been a bandleader and composer, worked alongside jazz luminaries and founded a record label.

‘Great music, played with freedom, passion and respect for the past — what more could you ask for?’ 5* review in the Evening Standard

His new album Spirit Fiction has been hailed as mature and commanding. The record encompasses his huge artistic legacy and distinct vision, without losing his signature tone and nimbleness of thought. For this appearance at the Howard Assembly Room he plays with his collaborators David Virelles on keyboards, Dezron Douglas on bass and Jonathan Blake on drums.

Simply buy an equivalent number of tickets for two or more shows displaying the Save symbol and you will receive 20% off your tickets. Currently not available online. To book please call 0844 848 2727, Monday – Saturday from 10am – 6pm.

Please note the time indicated is the actual start of the performance. Doors to the event will open approximately 15 minutes before.

Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or award-winning film is a spellbinding tale of bigotry and brutality set in a north German village immediately before the outbreak of the First World War.

‘Haneke's films always feel, once the credits have rolled, unstoppable. This one surely is.’ The Guardian

Shot in austere monochrome, The White Ribbon is as tense as a thriller and as unsettling as a horror film. The film shines a light onto an unjust social system that is morally and physically disintegrating, though no one is prepared to confront it.

A diverse programme from two of the world’s leading artists in song. Croatian mezzo-soprano Renata Pokupić is in high demand from international orchestras and opera houses. This concert is a rare opportunity to hear her in a more intimate setting. She is accompanied by distinguished pianist Roger Vignoles.

“Pokupić is a serious, gifted practitioner of this endangered art form…fluidly and charmingly performed.”Opera News Magazine

The duo delights in a programme that includes Mahler’s heart-breaking Rückert Leider, Finzi’s wonderful Shakespeare Songs: O Mistress Mine, Come Away Death and pieces by Wolf and Hahn.

"... with Roger Vignoles at the piano, extraordinary things can happen" TheTimes

Please note the time indicated is the actual start of the performance. Doors to the event will open approximately 15 minutes before.

Orchestra of Opera North

Some of the best-loved – and some of the best – orchestral music of the 20th and 21st centuries has been composed for the silver screen. This season’s Classic FM at the Movies programme pays tributes to such masters of the genre as Danny Elfman and Howard Shore, as well as celebrating the enormous contribution that the great classical composers have made to so many of our favourite films. This concert is the perfect way to share with all the family the power and the glory of wonderful orchestral music played live – so do book soon for what is bound to be one of the most popular dates in the season!

Over the years, Icelandic multi-instrumentalist and producer Ólafur Arnalds has gained a huge following for his unique blend of lush strings and piano, juxtaposed with edgier loops and beats. His most recent album Now I am Winter, evokes the atmospheres of winter nights and crisp snowy hills. It weaves its spell slowly, over its course.

Ólafur Arnalds will also play music from the award-winning drama Broadchurch, which has recently returned to ITV for a second series.

Moving between ambient electronica to pop, his tracks have been widely featured in film and TV – fans of The Hunger Games will recognise Ólafur’s song Allt Varð Hljótt, a track he penned for the film’s score and soundtrack.

Sat 27 November 2014 gig postponed and rescheduled to Sat 21 February 2015

November date postponed by the artist due the extension of his North American tour. We are pleased to have secured a new date of Sat 21 February 2015 at 7.45pm. If you have tickets for the original Sat 27 November date, they have been automatically transferred to the new date.

If you would like to come on the new date: no action is required – just come with your current ticket/s on Sat 21 February instead.

If you would like a refund you must send back your tickets by Mon 15 December 2014: please send your ticket/s back to the Box Office and they will arrange your refund. If you paid in cash, by cheque or Theatre tokens, your refund will be issued as a cheque. This will take 2-3 weeks.

We share your disappointment that this event has had to be rescheduled and we hope we can welcome you back to the Howard Assembly Room soon.

Synopsis

Support: Dennis Ellsworth

John Smith has had an incredible year (culminating in a sell out show at Union Chapel in London) touring his most recent album Great Lakes. He is a dazzling and inventive guitarist and possessor of an unforgettable honeyed gravel growl of a voice that belies his age.

John Smith is a firm favourite at the Howard Assembly Room having first performed in the venue supporting Iron and Wine in 2010.

“He possesses a common name but a rare talent” - The Independent

“His performance was an object lesson in how taste and imagination always outweigh mere musical virtuosity…unexpected and daring” -The Sunday Times

Please note the time listed on your ticket/webpage is the start time for the performance. Doors open approximately 30 minutes beforehand. Where there is a support act, this will also be stated on the website/ticket. We recommend arriving at least 15 minutes before show time as latecomers will only be admitted during a suitable break in the performance.

Bach, Beethoven and Liszt

One of the world’s leading pianists, Angela Hewitt is particularly known for her thoughtful and commanding playing of JS Bach. In a nod to his 330th anniversary Hewitt performs his Partita No. 5 in G Major BWV829.

‘Marvellous. The variety and beauty of tone alone make compelling listening, bringing contrasts, clarity and warmth to Bach’s intellectual marvels‘ The Times

The evening is completed by Beethoven’s tender Les Adieux Sonata No.2 in E Flat Major Op. 8a and Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage, Deuxième année, Italie and Après une Lecture du Dante. Perhaps less well known as part of her repertoire, Hewitt’s interpretation of Liszt has been described as ‘exquisite in its subtlety’ and ‘admirable in its lucidity’ by The Guardian.

This concert is available on the multi-buy Save 20%. Unfortunately, the offer is not currently available online. To book under the multi-buy please call 0844 848 2727 Monday – Saturday 10am – 6pm

Please note the time indicated is the actual start of the performance. Doors to the event will open approximately 15 minutes before.

Presented as a double bill

La vida breve

Manuel de Falla (1913)

From the composer of the orchestral showpiece Nights in the Gardens of Spain and the popular ballet The Three-Cornered Hat comes this irresistibly exuberant opera that sets violently passionate emotions amid the colourful sights and sounds of Granada.

La vida breve is an all or nothing tragedy of a woman who loves too much a worthless man who strings her along, knowing all the while that he is to marry another girl. The atmosphere is heavy with Spanish fatalism, heightened by the influence of Andalusian folk song, lightened by Spanish dance rhythms, and the action is ferociously intense.

Christopher Alden’s production was one of the highlights of Opera North’s groundbreaking, award-winning Eight Little Greats season in 2004, and was extravagantly praised by Germaine Greer on BBC2’s Newsnight Review:

‘It’s a staggering work and it was staggeringly presented and performed. If you see nothing else this year, and you give a damn, see La vida breve. Go to Salford, Nottingham, go wherever you can and see it.’

Sung in Spanish with English titlesPerformance lasts approximately 1 hour Guidance: Contains some violence and sexual references

Gianni Schicchi

Giacomo Puccini (1918)

New production

After the dark, suicidal angst of La vida breve, Gianni Schicchi is the perfect companion piece – an irresistible satyr play set around the death-bed of a rich man. The scheming relatives who vie for a chunk of his fortune are all too recognisable and reveal the greed and avarice which lie just below the thin veneer of their family loyalties.

‘If you were ever in doubt that opera could be hilarious then [...] Gianni Schicchi will convince you’The Daily Telegraph

Inspired by an episode in Dante’s Inferno, Gianni Schicchi is Puccini’s only outright comedy. Christopher Alden’s new production nods slyly in the direction of the timeless themes which Puccini exploits to brilliantly farcical effect – after all, those scheming relatives may bear an uncanny resemblance to our own family members!

With its vivid characterisation and the spontaneity of its musical invention, Gianni Schicchi is a comic masterpiece in miniature. Featuring one of Puccini’s best-loved arias, ‘O mio babbino caro’, it is here brought alive by a top drawer cast – starring Christopher Purves, ‘one of the great operatic artists of the present’ (The Spectator), in the title role.

Sung in Italian with English titlesPerformance lasts approximately 1 hour